


The Werewolf and the Nine-Tailed Fox

by long_live_larrystylinson



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-23 12:39:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15606486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/long_live_larrystylinson/pseuds/long_live_larrystylinson
Summary: It is known that werewolves and foxes only interperse amidst chaos, and for this reason, they were never meant to be.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive the un-beta-edness lol

It was a New Moon when Claudia birthed her first and only son. She doesn’t remember much of it, really, just the intermittent and immense pain thrumming between her thighs as the moon shone above her, her forehead glistening with sweat and perspiration under its glorious light.  
“Close the windows,” she heard Talia command. “The draft is sending her chills.”  
Upon hearing those words she felt frantic, the thought of the room without the moonlight’s grace suddenly felt suffocating. Despite the pain and exhaustion she tried to flail her limbs and arch against the mattress. Her husband, John, tried to sooth her sudden distress, capturing her arms and positioning it back to her sides, whispering comforts in her ears as he try to bury his own fears.  
“Open them,” she croaked, eyes begging her husband. “Please~”  
For reasons she couldn’t muster she wanted the moon, wanted to bathe in its light, be part of its light herself. John, without needing to ask permission from Talia – she is not an Alpha to me, as he always used to remind his wife – re-opened the windows and allowed the wind and the light of the new moon to seep through.  
Claudia pursed her lips as another wave of searing pain flooded her senses. Deaton spread her thighs wider.  
“Breathe through your nose, look at your belly as you stick your chin in your sternum and push continuously for as long as you can. Push on your loins not on your rear,” Deaton coached her shamelessly. There was no room for shame and inhibitions, Claudia thought, even though she is a conservative woman. She was a proper lovely lady – slender and fragile and though her mind is strong, sensitive things like passion or lust still bring crimson colors to her pale cheeks.  
As the pain subsided she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the next contraction. On her right, opposite her husband, someone interloped their fingers and squeezed. She peered through heavy lids and was met with the Alpha’s piercing but focused and encouraging gaze. She and her best friend, Talia Hale, were opposites. Or, just like what they have concluded when they first agreed that they were soul mates, they were the ‘other person’ they would’ve wanted to be had their circumstances been different. While Claudia is rosy cheeks and gentle brown eyes, Talia is high cheekbones and fierce blue eyes.  
Her best friend’s nature was no secret from her, another reason why she was a friend of the Hales. After they found each other in college it seemed impossible to separate them due to many reasons, and the fact that they share the same room wasn’t one. Their mutual love for Aqualung, however, started it all. They moved in the same day. Talia arrived into a room already cluttered with boxes she thought was hers, except a second later she knew it wasn’t because she remembered packing plenty of boxes. Here there was only three. One of the box was already unopened and she almost snarled upon seeing another person, wondering why it wasn’t her that she first noticed upon entering the room. Claudia only noticed her then as well, crouched in the floor as she unpacked her first box. She looked up at her and smiled, and Talia forced a smile back. There was a sudden tinge of irritation in the air, which surprised them both and prevented them from further introductions. Talia thought it must be because Claudia looked too uptight and pretty, and even though she was a beauty herself, she has a prejudiced dislike for girls who were too skinny and tall.  
When Talia’s boxes arrived a little later she wasted no time and immediately unpacked. And, for maybe it was written and destined, they simultaneously plastered their favourite poster on the wall. Almost at the same time they turned around, eyes darting away immediately on the exact Aqualung poster opposite them, and when they looked at each other again there was a glint of amusement and understanding in their faces.  
“Oh god,” Talia said with a genuine smile. Claudia giggled. “We are going to be best friends.”  
And they did.  
Claudia knew Talia was a fighter, a woman with such a strong will and personality, not mentioning physical strength, that it wasn’t really a surprise to her when she learned that her roommate and best friend was a werewolf. It was during one of those rare Friday night out that she and Talia planned to go, two weeks before the exams. It wasn’t that Claudia didn’t want to go, it’s just that she preferred not to. But Talia insisted, saying that the coming weeks won’t be easy for them, and it’s better to lose themselves first for a while before they start pulling their hairs out for the review. It was another thing that Claudia loved about her, because even despite her outgoing and strong personality, she knew how to handle her academics.  
It was a great night for both of them. An hour or so of mindless dancing, just enough booze to set them loose, two cute college guys hanging with them for small talks and some quick snog. Both girls exited the club laughing and giggling to themselves with arms wrapped around each other. Claudia stumbled in the way with an intoxicated stagger, and she was just complaining about how Talia seemed not drunk at all when rough hands, too many hands, pulled them into an alley.  
Claudia doesn’t remember it clearly, just that there were five men or so blocking the way out of the alley and Talia standing in front of her. She was dizzy and scared, she may have started sobbing as well, but one of Talia’s arms was holding on to her protectively. She heard Talia talking to them, almost growling, she noticed, but the men just laughed and started advancing towards them. And then Talia pushed her away into the pile of boxes beside her and she doesn’t really remember much after that. She did see some claws and heard some men screaming and blood – blood everywhere – and then nothing. When she woke up, she was back in their room lying in her bed, their shower running. Claudia’s blood stained clothes were piled just outside the bathroom door, and she just stared at it, maybe still drunk or still too shocked to think of anything. Even when Talia went out of the shower with towel wrapped around her body, Claudia couldn’t find any words to say.  
“So,” Talia said, sitting on the bed opposite her. Her hair was tied in a messy bun, but Claudia noted she still looked gorgeous and beautiful in a fierce way. “I need to tell you something about what happened earlier.”  
“You don’t have to.”  
“I do. This is important. I need you to…I need you to feel safe with me. And for that to happen you have to understand.”  
While still lying in her bed, she turned her body to face her best friend, lying like a peaceful baby in a mother’s womb. “I know what you are. At least some of it, I think.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“You’re a werewolf. Children of the Moon.”  
Talia opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it again.  
“All women in my family has a duty. We have to watch on our children, see if there’s something different, or special about them. And if we give birth to a girl, we must tell them a story. My mother told me the story three times. They say the blood can only be passed on by the women. The men can still be one of them, but their children will not carry the blood.”  
Talia’s eyes widened, and then she smiled. “You’re a descendant of the fox spirit. You carry the fox blood.”  
Claudia nodded, smiling as well. “When my mother told me of it when I was ten, I did believe her, because, well, I was ten. But when she told me the story again when I was sixteen, I freaked out, and I didn’t believe her. Until one day, when I was eighteen, we went to visit my Aunt. She lived far away, and since we weren’t rich we never visited her, but my Aunt went to visit us a couple of times. One day my Aunt called, telling us to visit. There I met my relatives and cousins - lots and lots of cousins - even distant ones, and at first I thought it was just a family reunion or something. That night, my mother told me about the story again, and I just rolled my eyes. But then, the next day. The next day there were foxes everywhere. I noticed some of my cousins were missing, some were as confused as I was seeing all those foxes, and then suddenly, the foxes were turning into humans. Someone screamed, but I was just really shocked, like, really, really shocked. When we all gathered, my Aunt told us about the story again. And then I learned that my cousins know the story as well, been told about it by their own mothers.”  
She took a deep breath. Talia nodded her to go on.  
“Basically the story is about a fox who lived for a thousand of years who wanted to be human. Have you heard about it?”  
Talia nodded. “Yeah, my friend Deaton knows a lot about folklore. Like, legit ones. Not just pop culture. He’s going to be a druid someday, our pack emissary.”  
Claudia just stared at her. “That’s…well. I still find these things crazy. I’m sorry. I’ve seen things with my own eyes, but still.”  
“It’s okay. I understand. But for me it’s like, the usual. I was born like this, so basically this is…”  
“Your world.”  
Talia smiled, nodding. “Tell me more about your story.”  
“It’s a little complicated, how things work about fox spirits. Like, for one, our blood can only be transferred through birth. We can’t give it through the bite. And as I said, the men’s children cannot carry the blood, only the women. So the women are really treasured, or you may say, highly protected in our family. But not all women can become a fox, like me. I just carry the blood, but I don’t have the fox spirit. I cannot transform into a fox, or have the abilities. Which sucks, by the way.”  
Talia laughed.  
Claudia shook her head with a smile. “I can’t be badass like you. I’m basically useless, except for procreation. My mother’s the same, though she insist it’s the god’s gift, an honor, to give birth to fox children. But still, you know. I could’ve helped you earlier kicking ass of perverted men.”  
“It has its perks.”  
“That’s why, whenever a fox child is born, they are immediately brought to the Nikutsinaes. Have you heard about them?”  
“Yeah. They’re like, the Elders, right? The leaders of all the foxes. Ours is called a Deucarys. They’re the head of all the Packs. Why do they take the fox children?”  
“Because they have to make sure they survive, since foxes cannot multiply easily. And train them how not to eat people. It's very rare for them to let a fox child go, because doing poses a great threat to the child and the discovery of their kind.”  
"It's like foxes are part of one big pack," Talia noted.  
Claudia nodded, understanding a little.  
"This kinda explains how, and I am very sorry for this, I was immediately irritated when I first saw you."  
Claudia raised her brows. "How so?"  
"My mother used to say," she pauses, thinking. "Or at least it's a known fact, that foxes and wolves are never meant to interspere."


	2. Chapter 2

When the baby came out, Deaton announced it was a boy. Talia watched as he settled the baby beside its mother who seemed to have forgotten her fatigue upon seeing her child, very much like her when she first held Laura in her arms. At first Talia thought her instincts were wrong, the child didn’t have any appearance that hinted it being a fox child, no tail or pointed ears or irritating smell. But when John took the baby in his arms the rays of moonlight coming from the window shone upon the child, and just when she thought nothing supernatural would surprise her again in this world, a beautiful white tail became visible from the child’s back, the short length of it slowly waving around in a hazy motion, as if it has its own life. Miniscule blue wisps hovered around it like dancing glitters.  
And for the first time, Talia witnessed Deaton flabbergasted, awestruck, and confused just like the rest of them. The druid didn’t know why the tail is only visible under the moonlight, for he’s never known any creature with such a characteristic, and he knows A LOT about the supernatural. When a draft entered and the wind blew the child’s scent, Talia’s nostril flared.  
“It’s a fox child,” she announced. John’s eye widened but he kept his child in his arms securely, his knowledge about the child’s nature not changing his affection with it even the tiniest bit. Claudia’s forehead was knitted in concern and confusion.  
“A fox child and something else,” Deaton adds. “I have witnessed a human fox gave birth to a fox child. It’s not much different with werewolves, the tail appears with the child. It is visible even without the moon.”  
When enough time has passed and Claudia gathered her strength, she told her grandmother’s story in front of her husband, Deaton, and the Hale Pack. It was the Pack’s concern, just like how any other supernatural creature in the town is their concern, so that peace can be maintained. The story was familiar to them all except John, for the tale was about the fox who lived a thousand years and desired to be human. It was basic fox folklore, and was not enough explanation of the child’s peculiar tail.  
o0o  
When Derek imprinted on Stiles, he was two years old.    
His mother finally decided to bring him and his sister Laura to visit Aunt Claudia who stopped visiting their house when she gave birth to a fox child. Derek was especially curious about this child, often wondering to himself what was the fuss about, why child’s ‘magnificent’ tail is always mentioned in their family’s dinner conversations.  
Laura, being a year older than him, saw the fox child once a month ago. She was allowed to visit Aunt Claudia because she have, according to their mother, ‘more control.’ When she arrived home she told him she saw nothing special about the child, his tail wasn’t even visible when she visited. They said the tail is only visible under the moonlight, which is pretty useless, Derek thinks. And she also said she didn’t like how he smelled, complaining about a scent like spicy peanut butter. She hated peanut butter.  
When they arrived at the Stilinski House Talia left Derek and Laura on the living room to watch the telly, instructing them to wait for her before they can see the child who was asleep at the moment. His mother chatted with Aunt Claudia in the kitchen, talking about baby diapers and exclusive breastfeeding.  
But Derek cannot wait to see the fox child, he was feeling antsy and restless in his seat, and even though Thomas the train is his favorite show in the world he wanted to skip the TV, wanted to go up the stairs and look at the sleeping child for himself. If he knew about the idea he would’ve said he was being pulled.  
When Laura stood to get herself some water Derek jumped and bounded the stairs. He cannot wait anymore. It was easy to track where the child’s room was, for his breathing was even and Derek can hear him whining in his sleep. When he went through the open door the air didn’t smell like spicy peanut butter at all, it smelled like the purple flower his grandmother planted in their backyard. It was his favorite flower. He decided would ask grandma the name later when he arrived home.  
The baby’s crib was a bit taller than him, and he had to stand on his tippy toes to take a good look. When he laid eyes on the baby it opened its eyes as if it sensed his presence, and Derek didn’t want him to cry for being woken up so he took his small puffy hands in his.  
“Baby,” he muttered. The baby smiled at him, and Derek felt funny inside. It’s like the feeling he got when he rode the longest slide in the park last Saturday even though his mother told him not to, as if his stomach has turned all mushy and he felt a bit dizzy. Suddenly can hear the child’s even heartbeat loud like drums, its steady breathing, and he can tell that it is happy, he can smell it. Mother said they cannot smell emotions until they are five. “Baby,” he said again. “‘M Derek.”  
He didn’t hear his mother and aunt barging inside the room in a hurry, worrying about what Derek might have accidentally done to the fragile infant, but when they saw him holding the child’s hand they just smiled to themselves because it was too cute. Derek didn’t see Claudia’s happy smile mirroring his mother’s. But he sensed Laura coming closer and he turned to look at her, didn’t even noticed his eyes turning red for the first time.  
“You be careful,” he growled at his sister. “Baby small. Weak.”  
Laura growled back at him. She never liked taking orders from his younger brother. Talia took her hand and knelt beside her.  
“Derek,” his mother said. “Come here.”  
His mother’s face was crunched like that time he fell off the stairs and his body hurt all over. He can tell she was worried.  
Derek let go of the baby’s hand and the baby frowned. He didn’t want to leave him yet but he has to obey his mother.  
“Oh Derek,” his mother asked, hugging him. “What did you do?”  
“Derek like baby,” he replied. “Baby name?”  
His mother looked at Aunt Claudia who nodded back at her with a pursed smile. Aunt Claudia seemed worried too.  
“Genim,” Talia told him. “Genim Stilinski.”  
“Gemim Simimski,” Derek repeated, frowning. He repeated the name over and over again, but he cannot get it right.  
“Genim Silinski,” Laura told him, scolding.  
“No,” their mother said. “Genim Stil-inski.”  
“Gemim,” Derek repeated. “Stilm...Siml…Stilm”  
Her Aunt Claudia chuckled, and Derek didn’t like it.  
“Stiles,” Derek decided, final. “Derek call him Stiles.”  
He sauntered back to the crib and looked at baby who was sleeping again. “Sleep, baby. Sleep, Stiles.”  
o0o  
Talia watched as the Deputy paced back and forth in the kitchen while Claudia leaned against the refrigerator’s door, biting at her nails. They left Derek and Laura to play with Stiles, with Talia’s younger brother, Peter, watching them.  
“How is that even possible? They are children,” the Deputy muttered exasperatedly, not for the first time.  
“It happens, John. It happened to me and my husband. I wouldn’t have imagined a life with him, he was such a dork, but when I saw him one day it just clicked that he’s my mate. It happens,” Talia explained. Again.  
Talia heard the door open and she turned around to see Deaton let himself in, throwing a quick glance above the stairs where the children were playing before heading towards the kitchen where the adults are worrying.  
Claudia sighed, even though she’s finding the idea adorable, she can’t ignore the other issues with it. “But you two were in college back then. My son is turning one tomorrow and Derek’s just about to turn three in a few months.”  
Talia gave Deaton a quick hug. The Deputy nodded at the druid as he hugged Claudia as well.  
“How are they doing?” Deaton asked.  
“Derek doesn’t want to leave,” Talia replied. “He wants to take Stiles with him.”  
John shot Talia a look upon calling Genim her son’s given nickname to his child. The Alpha shrugged.  
“You have to make him. This won’t be easy because children are hard to reason with. They will react to their instinct and demand to get what they want. But it would be best for everyone if Derek’s not with Stiles 24/7. If we let them be together all the time it would be impossible to separate them in the next month or so,” Deaton explained.  
“Is this like, final?” Claudia asked. “For life?”  
“Not yet. Derek has still to court Stiles, and Stiles would decide if Derek’s a proper mate for him. And if I remember correctly, mating ritual among foxes and werewolves are the same. So we’re clear in that area.”  
Talia nodded. “Then it truly isn’t final yet. Not until Derek Marks Stiles. Or Stiles rejects Derek. Or another wolf challenge’s Derek imprint on Stiles. And we can only Mark when we reach the teenage years.”    
“At thirteen?” John asked. “They would still be children by then. And they’re both boys.”  
“Gender is not really an issue for us werewolves,” Talia replied, throwing a pointed look at the Deputy’s direction. “It’s the society that has a problem.”  
Claudia glared at her husband. “So what? Would you not accept him if our son’s gay?”  
The Deputy’s eyes widen, blabbering incoherently first before finding his words, “Of course I will! He’s my son. I’m just saying because...The people in this town isn’t much…accommodating to such.”  
Silence followed. After a while Deaton spoke,  
“Honestly, I don’t really understand what’s our problem here,” Deaton remarked. “Claudia and Talia have been planning to marry their children even before Laura was born.”  
Claudia looked at her best friend with a grin. “That’s true. It’s kinda perfect, now, isn’t it? We didn’t even have to do anything. They just,” Claudia couldn’t find the right words. “Clicked?”  
“It’s destiny,” Talia said, smiling back. “Or something like that. Imprinting isn’t much different, really.”  
“And besides,” Deaton added. “Derek would protect Stiles instinctively. Provide for him. Make sure he’s alright all the time.”  
John simply sighed. All these supernatural issues still makes him uneasy, even now, even after being acquainted to the Hales, - a whole family of werewolves - because of his wife.    
Deaton’s reminder about Claudia and Talia’s agreement to marry at least one of their children seemed to solve the issue of imprinting among the children, in a way, and the Stilinskis find themselves relaxing with the thought. There really is no harm except for the fact that their child is a just a baby. If anything, it would be simply another way for the two families to grow closer.  
“The only problem is,” Deaton started. Some time in the future Talia would wish Deaton hadn’t said it, hadn’t said the words that would haunt her in the coming years, further galvanized by the Banshee’s prediction. The idea gnawed at her like a tiny worm slowly eating its way through her core, consuming her with dread and fear of a mother for her child, and an Alpha for her pack.  
“If Stiles rejected Derek, especially after the Mark has been done, it will destroy him,” Deaton said, face suddenly painted with worry, eyes searching Talia’s. “It’s much worse if a werewolf imprints during their childhood. Although, it’s also extremely rare for a potential mate to reject its suitor.”  
Images flashed through Talia’s mind in an instant, her childhood friend Agnes who was born a werewolf like her, who imprinted on a human when they were just three. Agnes didn’t even know what she did, just that suddenly her world revolved around that person. Talia was happy for her when she started understanding what Imprinting meant. It’s a gift by the gods, her mother would say, a blessing to find your soulmate. It excited her, made her wonder when would she find her mate too. Agnes said it’s the most wonderful thing that happened to her, even though Claudia told her she didn’t actually got to know what it’s like to live without the imprint. But Agnes just told her that it didn’t matter because her human gave her a reason to live, to wake up every day and to look forward for another. Everything she did, every decision she made, was all for the human. He was the center of her universe and when Talia turned sixteen she found herself disliking the meaning of it. She didn’t like the way Agnes didn’t live her own life, rather trailing behind in the shadow of her mate’s life. And Talia thought it must be suffocating, even though Agnes insisted she would never ask for anything else. And that was the part that Talia didn’t understand, never did because the universe didn’t choose for her yet at that time, even though she understood it now. And she just knew that she didn’t want that for her son, for sweet little Derek, to live behind someone else’s life, without knowing what the world has to offer, what other marvellous things are waiting out there. He’s just a child, only three years old in a few month’s time. He’s a Hale, an Alpha, the wide world simply waiting to be explored under his paws.  
But above all, she didn’t want to see him sprawled in the ground one day, a bottle of wolfsbane poison clutched in his right hand, skin lined with visible purple veins as all his orifice bled, his eyes bulging with red and wide open as he stared at the ceiling, lifeless and heartbroken. Just like how she found Agnes in her room when the human rejected her when she revealed to him what she was. He told her he cannot accept her because she was a monster.  
She was staring at the floor as these thoughts ran through her mind. She snapped back immediately when Derek appeared in her line of vision, smelling of contentment and happiness.  
“Let’s see Stiles tommorow,” Derek said, eyes shining with innocence that warms her heart each time. “Might miss him.”  
And as she drove them home that night, Laura mocking her brother’s obsession with the fox child (Not fox child, Derek told her angrily, Stiles) in the back seat, and Peter snickering beside her, she can’t help thinking about Agnes. And when she rounded a curve and the Half Moon shone through the windshield, bathing them all with its power, she remembered her mother’s words, many years ago when she met a human fox who didn’t smell right but somehow knew how to make her laugh, wolves and foxes are never meant to intersperse.


	3. Chapter 3

Deaton knew many, many things about the supernatural, most especially the were-creatures. This is his duty as a druid, as was the duty of all druids in his family before him. It’s a calling that courses through his veins along with his blood, etched in his bones in white ink. If one is born with the druid blood, he cannot stray away from his path. That is not part of the choice. It isn’t a choice, really, because there is no choice to make. They crave for the knowledge that is beyond science and humanity, a natural inclination. It is their life’s purpose, the thing that supplies and sustains their existence.  
“We do not serve the wolves,” his father told him and his sister in one of their lessons when they were young. “We serve balance. And the wolves set the balance. They protect their territories. They make sure there is harmony between the supernatural and the natural, they drive away the evil that threatens the harmony within their borders. It was what was agreed when the first wolves took the first druids from the South, to help them in maintaining peace. That is why we work for them, become their Emissary. But remember, it is balance that we truly serve.”  
For druids, balance can be achieved by knowledge. And spells, incantations, potions. But the most important among all of them is knowledge, for it is the key to mastering one’s strengths and the weaknesses of its enemies.   
And after all the years of endless readings and visits to the druidic sanctuary, Deaton believed he knew enough. The Elder Druids believed so as well, because they sent him to a pack to be their Emissary - the culmination of a druid’s training.  
That’s why it was difficult for him to accept that he didn’t knew anything about the fox child’s true nature, except that it was a fox, at some degree, if Claudia was right about her grandmother’s story. Foxes, sure, he knows a lot about them. Complicated creatures, always living in harmony with its surrounding as a way of survival because their kind multiplies only through birth. They cannot give The Bite unlike the werewolves. And then there’s their most redeeming quality: Tricksters.   
But human foxes are born with tails, and when they’re not, it appears some days later when they first transform into their fox form. It certainly does not become visible only through the moon’s light. It doesn’t glow and it doesn’t have small bluish snowballs dancing around it. He checked, multiple times, even called his sister to make sure, for she’s more forgiving than his father, but she also knows nothing. The child is an anomaly. Or maybe Deaton just didn’t know enough. He will call his father the day after tomorrow, if it’s the price to pay to finally meet Talia’s expectant look, all hell be damned if his father mocks him for not knowing enough.   
The morning before Stiles’ second birthday Deaton was casually surfing the internet as a desperate act (despite their family’s strict rule not to), and he was about to regret even coming up with the idea when Wikipedia (he really tried not to) gave him a hyperlink about a creature called The Nine-Tailed Fox.  
Deaton almost fell from his seat because, of course. Nine-Tailed Foxes are extremely rare, almost non-existent, sub-type of the werefoxes. (A theory, since he remembered his teacher in the druidic sanctuary telling them that it was possible that the first fox spirit had nine tails.)   
His blood started pumping with fresh vigor with the new information. It was the first lead he had in two years. He opened the pdf (books are obsolete and gets burned, his teacher told them as he handed out the flash drives) containing all the known information about the creatures that the Elder druids have ever encountered and is known to exist in the entire planet. He pressed Ctrl+F (a trick Peter taught him a year ago when he visited to ask something about Lalobas and he caught Deaton scrolling down all the way to pg. 6589) and searched, Nine-Tailed Fox.   
It took a while to get the result, and Deaton’s breathing was getting quicker and quicker with anticipation as he clicked it, but then he was presented with a list. That was when he realized that the creature was listed under the Ambiguous Section, where all the supernatural creatures and events listed are either unproven or no significant information has been found yet.   
Deaton sighed in defeat. And after five minutes of staring at the screen he suddenly asked a question he should’ve asked the moment the idea sprang in his head, if Stiles was indeed a nine-tailed fox, where are the remaining eight? He sighed even deeper.  
By lunch time he received a call from Talia asking for his presence at the Stilinski house. Derek was insisting that something was wrong with Stiles and wouldn’t leave him even though Talia wasn’t able to smell any sort of pain from the child. Deaton told her that Derek is more attuned to Stiles’ needs and feelings, so he may be detecting something that she isn’t yet. He promised to come by in fifteen.  
Derek was clutching Stiles’ hand when Deaton arrived, his forehead scrunched with an intensity that might be too extreme for a three-year old. Despite this his hold with Stiles remained gentle.  
“Derek, I’m going to see if something’s wrong with Stiles,” Deaton explained, the young werewolf’s eyes gazing up at him with worry. There was a glint of braveness in there as well, a strength a werewolf maintains to bury his own fear and muster the energy to take care of his mate.  
Derek loosened his hold of Stiles’ hand, retreating a few steps before running to hug his mother. He refused to cry. If he cried, Stiles would cry as well.   
The fox child’s forehead was slightly scrunched, and without Derek’s presence the frown deepened even more.   
“Something is indeed wrong with Stiles,” he announced. “He’s warmer than usual.”  
Claudia immediately ran to the crib and placed a palm over Stiles’ forehead. “He wasn’t hot the last time I checked,” she said, voice wavering.  
“Derek must’ve been absorbing it,” Deaton said, looking over at the young Alpha who was held by his mother in a tight embrace. Talia looked at him, her eyes flickering with something that Deaton cannot fully grasp, something between worry and dread, before looking away and hugging Derek even closer to her.  
Claudia opened one of the drawer nearest her and took out an empty cold compress before hurrying to the kitchen to fill it with water and put it to the fridge.   
“If he’s a fox child why isn’t he healing?” Talia asked. “Isn’t he supposed to be immune to any type of sickness?”   
Deaton nodded. “That’s what I’m worried about. Were-creatures are never supposed to be sick. Unless, of course, witches, curses, or potions.”    
“That’s impossible,” Talia said. “The last witch that inhabited Beacon Hills was a decade ago. There’s no witches around,” she paused. “At least none that we know of.”  
Deaton inched closer to Stiles and checked his forehead again. “He’s warming up quickly.”  
Derek understood Deaton’s implication, almost instantly wriggling away from his mother and running towards his mate.   
“’Sokay, baby,” he murmured. “I’m here.”  
When Deaton turned to look at Talia, she was looking at Derek with the same stricken look she had a few moments ago, her phone in her ears as she waited for the person she called to answer, and Deaton cannot help but wonder if she’s more worried about the sick child or her son.   
“Jake, tell the Betas to patrol the town for anything suspicious. Witches, especially. Stiles’ is sick, and Deaton thinks it’s a curse and the sort.”  
Claudia returned with the barely frozen compress in her hand. She muttered a thank you to Talia before kneeling beside Derek and placing the contained water on top of the child’s head, not really touching him.  
Suddenly Stiles cried out, turning over suddenly to crawl towards Derek. Derek hugged him immediately.   
“It’s okay Stiles, you need this so you won’t feel too warm,” Claudia tried again, taking the compress with her and attempting to get it closer to Stiles. The child scrambles away, eyes flashing crystal blue.   
Deaton takes Claudia’s hand and grabs the compress, studying it. “He’s scared of the water. What did you put in it?”   
Claudia’s eyes watered, shushing apologies to Stiles and taking him from Derek’s arm who resisted for a bit before giving in. “Nothing. Just water. I filled it with water from the faucet and stored it in the freezer for a while.”   
“I called John,” Talia announced. “He’s coming in a while. I’ll help the Pack patrol the town when he arrives.”   
Claudia began sobbing with all the commotion, even though she tried not to. A while ago they were just cooing at how cute Stiles and Derek are, and now the Hale Pack is patrolling the town for a witch that may have cursed her baby.  
Deaton asked if Stiles ate or drank anything for the past 24 hours, but Claudia told him he’s still being breastfed exclusively. The Deputy arrived a short while later, his steps loud as he bounded the stairs in a hurry, eyes immediately settling to his wife and son. Claudia started crying when John hugged her, Stiles pressed lightly between them with tiny arms wrapped around his father.  
“He’s burning,” John said worriedly. Claudia hiccupped, another sob threatening to spill from her throat. “Hey,” John lifted her chin. “Be strong, okay?” Claudia nodded.   
“John,” Talia called. “Where’s the list?”   
John let Claudia carry Stiles and pulled a folded paper from his back pocket, opening it before giving it to Talia. It was the list of the newly moved residents of Beacon Hills for the past month.   
“What will you do?” John asked.  
“We’re going to knock on their doors and try to get a whiff of something strange inside. Witch houses always smell nasty,” Talia replied without looking up at him, eyes focused on studying the addresses.   
“I’ll go with you,” John said.   
The Alpha shook her head. “Your wife needs you,”   
John glanced at his wife who nodded back at him.  
“They’ll open their doors more easily if he’s with you,” Claudia told Talia. “Go.”  
Before Talia left the room she whispered to Deaton to watch Derek, eyes imploring the druid with a plea that he didn’t understood. Stiles was placed again in the crib and Derek immediately held his hand, gasping when the heat flowed through him suddenly, and the veins in his little arm visibly coloring black.   
Claudia grabbed Derek’s hand as soon as she saw what it was doing to him and pulled him in an embrace. “It’s alright, Derek. You’ve done enough,” she said, placing a light kiss in the child’s hair. “Bring him home, Talia. He’s just going to hurt himself.”   
Talia watched them sadly.    
“NO!,” Derek protested loudly, backing away from the embrace to the opposite wall. “I STAY WITH STILES,” he growled, eyes flashing red.  
Talia calmed him down and carefully instructed him not to touch Stiles, Uncle Peter will be coming soon and he can help leech Stiles of the pain. Derek agreed with a frown.  
Talia and John left when Stiles started whimpering in distress, unable to bear the helpless sounds of it. Derek tried to come closer but Deaton held him.   
“You’re too young,” Deaton said. “And small. You can’t handle the pain.”  
“But he’s crying,” Derek replied. “And really warm.”   
“You heard your mother, Peter will come soon. He will be able to bear the pain better.”  
Derek tried to unclasp from Deaton. “But he’s my Stiles.”  
“I know,” Deaton replied, knowing the child’s possessiveness is normal when its mate is in pain. “And Peter know. We all know. When you grow up a little more, you will be able to protect Stiles by yourself. But now,” there’s nothing you can do, Deaton would’ve said if he wanted to flare the young Alpha’s rage. “Let Peter help him.”  
When Peter arrived he immediately took the child’s hand, noting that there wasn’t any pain, but it was really hot. He would let go of Stiles’ hand whenever it would feel like his blood is flowing with lava.  
By nightfall Claudia had walked out of the room, unable to take her baby’s suffering any longer. But she came back a minute later, knowing that if something happened and she wasn’t there she would blame herself forever. Sometime later Derek shifted in his wolf form for the first time, prancing around the room and occasionally lying beside Stiles, Claudia rubbing at his black fur, until it gets too hot. Deaton was able to deduce that Stiles was having an intense fever, something related to foxfire, the reason for the child’s hydrophobia, and nothing else. He never felt more useless in his life.   
At around nine the Pack have returned with nothing, John’s eye puffed with red as he looked at his restless and wriggling son. Talia hugged Claudia whose tears have dried in Derek’s fur. Outside, the Hales wasn’t even able to acknowledge Derek’s first transformation in his wolf form, Stiles’ whimpers and intermittent cries echoing in their ears.   
As the night progressed Stiles became even more and more restless, almost thrashing away from Talia and Peter’s hold, trying to clasp away from their hands. Derek was the one who noticed it, how Stiles was almost reaching for the room’s window, and without effort he transformed back into his human form.  
“Open the window,” he told the adults. “Stiles wants the moon.”   
Claudia was the one who immediately sprang into action, remembering the way she felt as if she was swimming in fire the time she was giving birth to Stiles. It was the moon who calmed her, enveloping her in a light that felt like a sanctuary.   
When the moonlight seeped through the open window Stiles stopped thrashing in his crib, the end of his tail waggling hypnotically from where it was squeezed in his back. Stiles rolled over in his stomach, freeing his tail to wave around in a lazy motion. Derek tried to catch one of the wisp hovering around the tail, but it passed through his hand like a ghost, just like Stiles’ tail whenever someone tries to touch it. It was like a hologram without opacity, too real to look at but impossible to touch. That’s why everyone had decided on labelling it as a ghost tail. Because of the way it appears from Stiles’ back even though he is fully clothed.    
Everyone was staring at the tail the moment it was visible, each of them entranced with its magic and beauty, and when another tail suddenly sprouted beside the first one everyone released an audible gasp. The second tail was a little bit longer than the first one, but just as glorious. It waved around in a different motion than the first, as if it has its own accord.   
The heat ceased slowly from Stiles’ body, until finally he hummed peacefully, and the black flowing through Peter and Talia’s vein disappeared completely.  
“He’s a nine-tailed fox,” Deaton announced when no one found the voice to speak. “Seven more nights like this, and we’ll be seeing the first Kitsune seen in over a thousand years.”


	4. Chapter 4

o0o

Derek didn’t like how people flock around Stiles all the time. He doesn’t even have proper time to play with his mate. He just want the boy to himself, take him home and take care of him, keep him safe. When Laura went to school he was jealous and wanted to go to there as well, but now he’s not sure if he want to go anymore. School takes a lot of time, which also means a lot of less time with Stiles. It’s already bad that they don’t live together, or that he was useless the other day when Stiles was hurting and burning as he waited for his second tail to come out.

  
His mother explained to him it’s going to happen again, and Derek promised her he would be a better mate for him when that time comes. He’d be four years old by then, still young, but Laura is four now and she’s not that useless anymore, he thinks. Mother allowed her to run with the Pack across the preserve last new moon, and Derek expect he would be allowed as well when he turn four.

  
He just want to grow up so bad so that he could protect Stiles better.

  
His Pack threw a party for Stiles for his second birthday. Derek thought it was because their house was much bigger than Stiles and it was located at the end of the town and people rarely come to visit. It was not much fun, at least for Derek, because everyone kept touching Stiles and Derek didn't want his mate's purple flower smell to be burried under all the nasties.

  
o0o

  
"What are you so worried about?" Deaton asked his childhood friend whose brows were furrowed observing her son in his wolf form curled around Stiles.

  
"I'm not worried about anything," Talia replied, composing herself.

  
"Come on, Talia, it's me. I know when my Alpha is needing counsel. But if you don't need your emissary, I'm just your friend. Tell me."

  
Talia sighed. "I'm just worried, as a mother. Derek's too young to be tied in this kind of relationship. It's unhealthy for their age."

  
"The child is your best friend's firstborn."

  
"But the fact that it's a fox child, a Kitsune at that, is not really consoling. You know what the Elders say about foxes and werewolves interfering with each other's business."

  
"Do you know why there's a natural inclination for your kind to dislike the other?"

Deaton asked, his mind going back to the tales he learned back when he was learning at the sanctuary.

  
"I'm assuming you are about to tell?"

  
Deaton chuckles, shaking his head. "Hoping none of your children takes this side of you."

  
Talia smiled. "This family is never that lucky."

  
"It happened very very long ago. Long enough for the tale to be churned and changed by time itself into something between myth and history. A lot of it were undocumented, but the most believed was that the first fox who wanted to be human stole something from the Children of the Moon, by tricking them of course. No one knows now what it was, but it was a relic that synergized the first shapeshifters, gifted by the Moon God himself. It was believed to have gifted the first fox with powers thay are almost identical to yours, but so much more. And now I am starting to believe it was the moon's power that gave him his eight tails, transforming into a glorious and supreme being that created its own kind. The first Lycans believed it was a power that was meant for them, and waged war against the Kitsunes that lasted for hundreds of years. Now that I've seen one, the nine-tails, though its kind was much smaller in number, seemed to have been able to keep the upper hand through its immense power and tricks, destroying pack after pack that threatened its kind."

  
"This is not helping me keep calm about my wolf son imprintring into a fox child," Talia said.

  
"Until," Deaton continued. "The werewolves learned a weakness of the fox people. They do not posses the bite, and only have been multiplying in numbers through the long process of procreation."

  
Talia pursed her lip, remembering Claudia's story many years ago. "Their women."

  
Deaton nodded. "Though some of them are gifted with shapeshifting, some of them were not and were the most vulnerable of their kind. Suicide attacks were made by the wolves, raiding village after village for women that sustains their greatest enemy. Each time the nine tails would arrive for rescue, it slaughters the wolves, but it would be too late to save her dead daughters. When there's very, very little of the child-bearing women left, the nine-tails surrendered and returned the relic that it stole, finally ensuring peace for the two kind."

  
Talia huffed. "About time. What happened to the nine-tails?"

  
"They say once it lost the relic the tails eventially disappeared, one by one, and the first fox died in the hands of wolves seeking revenge. Your kind have lived peacefully after that, consoled that they are safe without the Kitsune. Until, many many years later, another kitsune was born. And a few more after that, some being born in the same lifetime. But they were kept secret, hidden and protected by the Nukitsunaes to prevent them from being hunted, or from starting another war."

  
"The same way we are hiding Stiles," Claudia said from behind them. Deaton turned, surprised. He looked at Talia who seemed to have known all this time that Claudia was listening. "We are not giving him to the Nukitsunaes," Claudia continued. "Nor are we gonna let the Deucarys know that he exists. Nothing has to change."

  
She walked over to Talia who still hasn't turned from where she was staring at her sleeping child. "You will protect him, will you?" Claudia held Talia's hand. "We are safe here, my family?"

  
"As long as I can help it," Talia said, finally leveling her look.

  
_Until my last breath_ was what Claudia wanted to hear. She let Talia's hand go, confused and dismayed at her best-friend’s lack of conviction.

Upon seeing Claudia’s face, Talia immediately felt guilty. She never wanted that expression to be seen from her best-friend, much less if she’s the one to cause it.

  
"I'll go check on the guests,” Claudia muttered as she retreated from the room.

  
After a judging look from Deaton, Talia uncrossed her arm to follow Claudia.

  
"I'll have to think about it, set a meeting with my pack. You heard the story. This is not an easy decision to make, it would be if I was just your beatfriend, but I'm an Alpha above all. I cannot just think of the welfare of your child, I have...” she stops, thinking if it’s the right time to tell her about the pup growing inside her belly, a child needing protection just as bad as Claudia’s son. Her husband already decided a name: Cora. But what's the use of a name when there is no future?

“Think about what, exactly?!” Claudia exclaimed, her ears reddening. “Whether you’ll turn us in to those Elders? If you’ll be willing to take us in, protect us? Which is for the record what I thought what was already happening here.”

“Of course I will protect your family! But there are other stakes I must consider. Your child, he’s special and different and we know very little-”

  
“He is all that, and you’re scared of it,”

Claudia cut off. “Long ago you made a point about not fearing things we don’t understand. My child, he’s...just a baby. What are you so scared of?”

  
“That he’ll doom us all,” Talia, whispered the words she only meant to say to herself.

  
Claudia gasped, for the first time not being able to comprehend what was going on through her best-friend’s mind. “If that’s the case, then Derek already is.”

  
Claudia stormed back to the room, carefully picking up the fox child who was snuggled comfortably against Derek’s fur. Derek sprang awake, but upon seeing it was his mate’s mother he transformed back to his human form. “Going where?” he asked.

Claudia ignored the adorableness and carried her child, ignoring the sounds of protest and question directed at her as she exited the Hale house. If this isn’t a safe place for her son, she’ll have to find somewhere else that is.

  
o0o

  
It had been four days, and Derek missed the fox child badly that it's starting to hurt. He doesn’ t know exactly where.

“Here,” he points at his tiny chest when his mother asked. “Hurts bad.”

  
o0o

  
A few nights more, the Banshee’s scream echoed in all of Beacon Hill’s supernaturals' ear. Talia's pack arrived a few moments too late, Meredith's mangled body sprawled across the floor. Written in the wall in the death whisperer’s blood: _Welcome to the Trickster's show._


	5. Chapter 5

  
The moon cast a threatening shadow of the young wolf that was trotting in the woods, appearing enormous and menacing than he actually was to the lesser creatures of the night. It was Derek's first run in the preserve, except he was without pack after stealthily sneaking out of the Hale house as everyone slept. He did say he missed Stiles but no one was hearing him, and he was nothing but determined to go and see his best friend one way or another. What if his person wasn't safe? What if he was not being fed enough? What if he missed him back? Oh god, what if he was feeling the same sadness Derek was feeling these past few days and as of this moment?

 

The wolf sprinted at the thought, images of Stiles' distress clouding his vision. He tore through obstructing branches and towering leaves as he ran, with the deputy's home in mind. Suddenly the view of the river that set the boundary of their territory from the rest of the town brought him to a halt. Tiptoeing back and forth at the riverbank, he remembered his mother's warning of the stronger surge of current during the night. Derek knew he wasn't sturdy enough, at least not yet, to push through the opposing force. But if he's too weak to cross a simple nuisance as this, how can he be strong enough protect Stiles against bigger threats? 

 

The young wolf jumped and stepped on the nearest rock that his instincts have landed him into. The river splashed at his toes, droplets of cold water spraying his feeble legs. He surveyed the river and his mother was indeed correct (like always), the current is exceptionally vigorous as opposed to yesterday's when Laura took him here. She said she would teach him a thing or two about fishing  ~~(brag about mauling a fish between her fangs using a sweet technique she learned from Uncle Peter)~~. 

 

Derek took another leap and he managed to land at just about the perfect rock when its wetness betrayed his footing, his hinds slipping onto the running water. He felt his fur dip onto the coldness that threatened to envelop his whole form, if he let it. Instinctively his front paws clawed desperately into the rock and after anchoring himself he propelled his submerged parts back up on the surface. Shaking himself off of water, he started to feel the cold creeping inside his fur. 

 

He looked back at where he came from, noticing how it's as treacherous to go back as it was to reach the other side. The wolf managed something that was close to a grin, feeling elated that he had no other choice now, except to see his Stiles. 

 

A few more risky jumps onto protruding rocks lead him to the last and just as he was about to pounce to safety, movement under the river caught his attention. The wolf realized he couldn't arrive at his mate's home without any gift - he couldn't risk him thinking he wouldn't be able to provide for him one day. Plus the water looked shallow at this side of the river and it didn't help that he kept remembering Laura's smug look as she held the fish between her humungous teeth. He dived in, positioning his body the exact same way he saw Laura did, and drilled straight to the nearest fish he could put his fangs on. He tasted the delicious rawness of flesh and blood spreading through his mouth as he took a turn and kicked his legs upward. But somehow the force wasn't as strong as he wanted and needed it to be, for the current below was even stronger than it appeared above. The young wolf failed to swim back up and felt himself collide against a rock or two before the current took him. 

 

o0o

The clacking sounds of mortar and pestle at work echoed around the Stilinski home as Claudia pulverised Agrimony flowers she planned to hang on Stiles' crib. Deaton said it would help ward off evil spirits. Claudia wasn't really sure anymore what constitutes evil in this world, or at least in Beacon Hills. 

 

On the living room sat her husband, a good few meters away from their child as he wiped off mountain ash from his gun that spilled from when he mixed it with his gunpowder. 

 

They've barely had enough sleep these past few days. Without Talia's protection they realized they feel ridiculously vulnerable and the only way they could condole themselves are Claudia's intermittent phone calls to Deaton asking for whatever plants, spells, or potions he could lend to their household. 

 

"She did not abandon you, you know. She would never," Deaton said not for the first time. 

 

"There have been no signs of her or her pack for the past four days. It's better that we prepare ourselves just in case anything happens while they decide whether we are worth protecting or not," she replied as she bit her nails, a habit she has stopped after college. 

 

John, on the other hand, took out all the weapons he has collected against the supernatural. Luckily there was a grove of mountain ash at the preserve because he didn't think he can prepare enough bullets laced in wolfsbane. 

 

All of a sudden a familiar sound of four-legged steps pacing at their porch stopped the Stilinskis from their reverie. Stiles released a delighted yelp, turning over on his cot and staring at the door with a smile. The fox child rarely smiled ever since Claudia walked out of the Hales on his birthday, and on some nights his cries and whimpers were unconsolable if not for the calming incense that Deaton gave them. 

 

John picked up the shotgun armed with wolfsbane bullets as Claudia readied her crossbow with arrows dipped in Rowan tree sap. The deputy carefully walked towards the door, Claudia guarding Stiles' crib protectively, both ready to fire at any sign of aggression.

 

Whatever was outside whimpered in frustration when it cannot walk beyond the ash circling the house. Upon realizing this John reached for the doorknob and opened it quickly. He pointed his gun at the first movement he saw out the door. It was a black wolf pup dripping wet and limping as it eyed him wearily. After a few seconds the wolf discarded a fish from its mouth, throwing it towards John's as if an offering. 

 

It took him a moment to register that it was Derek. 

 

"Oh god, Derek?!" He exclaimed, hanging his weapon at the stand. Claudia ran to his side and upon confirming what his husband saw she gasped, taking in her best friend's son who was in his wolf form, shivering and dripping in what seemed to be blood and water. She ran out the porch and laid the crossbow gently on the floor, breaking the circle of protection she built around the house with an expert flick of her hands.

 

"Go inside, baby," she coached. The wolf followed the direction, head bowed in submission. He doesn't want any fight, he doesn't have anything to do with his mother's and Aunt Claudia's quarrels, he just wanted to see Stiles whom he can already take and run away with if their parents continued to refuse to grow up. Once Derek was inside the circle Claudia reconstructed the mountain ash. John arrived with fresh towels in hand. 

 

"Let me help you get warm, bud," he approached carefully. 

 

The wolf nodded, limping towards him. John wrapped the towel around the wolf pup and carried him inside, Claudia following a moment after confirming no one else was outside. 

 

TDerek's senses was filled with STILES as he was carried inside, and for the first time he felt like he could finally breath without something pressing at his chest. He heard Stiles' delighted chuckle and he couldn't help to jump away from John's arm, yelping with pain as he landed on his wrong leg. 

 

"Careful baby," Claudia ran to the young wolf, carrying him towards Stiles. "Stiles isn't going anywhere." 

 

She let him settle outside Stiles' crib where John laid a few more blankets. The wolf was still shivering from the cold and Claudia kept on rubbing its fur with the towel.

 

Derek understood why he couldn't be inside Stiles' crib yet, he was still very wet and very cold and he didn't want Stiles to feel the same. Satisfied with the fox child's little hands playing with his muzzle, he closed his eyes and hoped he'd be warm soon. 

 

"Why won't he transform back?" John asked from where he observed the two. 

 

"He's too cold, if he transforms now he'd end up with hypothermia," Claudia replied as she discarded the wet towel and grabbed a new one. 

 

John proceeded to start a fire. "Should we call Talia?" 

 

"I don't know," Claudia replied. "Not yet."

 

The room lit up in orange as the fire started. John stood and placed the blankets near the fire. Claudia attempted to carry Derek next to the fire but he won't budge, insistent on resting his head between the wooden bars of Stiles crib. John gently pulled the cot near the fireplace, the room shining brighter and the fire growing larger. Derek followed.

 

"What do you mean you don't know?" John continued as he sat beside his wife, peering at the wolf and his son who both looked happy and contented. "He's hurt." 

 

"He'll heal soon. He's a werewolf." 

 

John waited. 

 

"I think this is what she's most scared of," Claudia finally muttered. "Derek risked his life just to see our son." 

 

"Must've slipped in the river," John said. He reached for Derek's fur, rubbing it to provide him more warmth. "This is pretty intense." 

 

"It's expected of them since they're children and mostly functioning through instinct, but we can't deny it's very dangerous," Claudia explained. "Sweet pup. Did you see the fish he brought us?" 

 

John smiled, nodding. "Already taking over my role as a provider, huh?" He said, rubbing the wolf's head. 

 

Stiles released another chuckle of delight at the scene. He is so so so happy that his tails wanted to pop out. His parents are warming up his best friend, and they're all here together and he really can't be any happier. 

 

"We can't keep on separating them," Claudia's heart melted from her son's laugh. "Look at how happy they are together." 

 

"That depends on Talia," John said. It was an idea he hated. He hated how she called the shots, how his son's happiness is dependent on whether she would deem Stiles a threat or not. 

 

o0o 

 

There was only one place Derek could have gone. Talia's s pack traversed the preserve, stopping at the riverbank where Derek's scent suddenly disappeared. The Alpha studied the scene with a determined gaze. She decided to follow the current, knowing there was a shallow part much further down. Following the trail she spotted a rock with hints of washed out blood, her eyes turning red at the knowledge it is her son's. 

 

Peter howled in distress, and Talia snapped at him with a reprimanding howl. 

 

 _My son is safe and I know where to find him,_ she spoke through their connection. 

 

 _The deputy's?_ Alice asked.

 

The Alpha nodded and sprinted across the river, her pack following closely behind. 

 

 _I'm sensing something else,_ Noah sent through the pack's connection. His superior sense of smell was the reason Talia recruited him.  _Foxes._

 

 _Which direction?_ Talia asked, halting. She inhales deeply, not really sensing it. 

 

_I'm not sure, but I smelled more than one. The wind carried their scent. It must be opposite from where we're going._

 

After a moment of contemplation Talia decided to split the group, Peter and Alice to follow her to the Stilinskis while Noah, Aljur and Jasper would investigate the foxes further. 

 

 _Use the wind to your advantage. It's important that they don't see you,_ she instructed.  _Do not engage. Head straight to Deputy John’s house as soon as you survey them._

 

 _They killed Meredith,_ Aljur, who was closest to the town’s Banshee spoke, his consciousness radiating anger and grief to the pack.  _They didn't want us to perceive any death. They're not here to talk._

 

 _You come with us instead,_ Talia instructed. She knew he often acted quickly on his emotions.  _They call themselves tricksters but their ploys are not as tame as their nickname implies. We will not do whatever it is they expect us to do._

 

Aljur gritted his teeth, even more annoyed that Talia was right. Alice marched beside him, nuzzling his head affectionately. 

 

With a nod of permission from Talia, Jasper and Noah bounded towards the direction of the irritating scents.

 

o0o

 

Talia and her pack arrived at the Stilinski house in record time, stopping a few inches away from where she can see the circle of mountain ash. It was one of the reasons why she felt untroubled not contacting this family. She knew that they were well protected – Claudia with that brilliant mind of hers and John’s (often bloated) courage. She also asked Deaton to look out for the two and provide them with any help that they needed, not that he needed asking.

 

“Claudia!” she shouted as soon as she transformed back. “Open up!”

 

After a few seconds the door opened slowly, Claudia emerging with a crossbow purposely aimed. Upon seeing her best friend’s pack she visibly relaxed, and without instruction she disrupted the barrier with a flick of her delicate hands. She disappeared back inside, which made Talia’s heart sink. A minute later Claudia came back, a fresh robe in her hands. Right, Talia forgot she was completely naked.

 

“I’ve been calling you for the past hour. Derek’s here.”

 

Talia almost leapt towards the porch and without much thought she embraced her best friend. Claudia smiled, returning the affection just as tight.

 

“We’re working on tailoring shorts that our wolves can fit into, so that we could bring our phones with us for times like these.”

 

Claudia chuckled. “Finally making some good decisions, I see.”

 

Talia nodded, not entirely missing the unintentional double meaning of Claudia’s words.

 

She cleared her throat, looking at the door worriedly. “Is he okay?”

 

“See for yourself,” Claudia replied as she opened the door. Before going in she commanded the remaining of her pack to patrol the area. Peter didn’t listen, of course, insisting he is worried about Derek as much as she is.

 

“Mom! Uncle Peter!” Derek shouted as soon as they entered. Talia was starting to wonder how he didn’t sense her, but then upon seeing him guide Stiles into a standing position and holding the fox child’s hand to lead him towards her, she knew why he was so occupied.

 

“Scold me later, mum, will ya?” he asked. “I missed Stiles bad, and he missed me just as bad. Now we’re okay!”

 

“That’s great, bab-“

 

“I taught him how to walk!” Derek announced proudly. “Right Aunt Claudia, Uncle John?”

 

“Sure, honey,” Claudia replied. Talia looked at her and grinned as Claudia shook her head. John chuckled, making his presence known. She almost forgot about him. He nodded at her cordially, which she returned.

 

“Stiles learned how to walk?” Peter asked. No one answered.

 

Soft, delicate hands touched Claudia’s leg. She looked down and was met with Stiles’ shy gaze. She smiled at him, the child smiling back as he raised his arms.

 

She picked him up, burying her nose into his neck and nuzzling him, burying her scent in his. “Missed you, sweet cheeks,” she whispered.   _I’m sorry_ and  _I will protect you,_ her mind supplied.

 

o0o

 

“This is the first time I’ve seen Derek happy since Stiles’ birthday,” Talia said as she looked at her sleeping son, Stiles plastered across his stomach. “This is my fault.”

 

“It’s alright,” Claudia said. “They hurt without each other’s presence. But Deaton said it would do us all good if they don’t depend on each other this early. They’re barely kids. No matter what the universe has decided for them they still need us.”

 

“I was selfish and scared,” Talia admitted, voice small. It was the first time Claudia and John heard her say such words aloud. “Imprinting – it’s so much more than just commitment. I didn’t want Derek to carry the burdens and the sufferings it entail. He’s barely four.”

 

“Stiles was born just over a year ago,” John reminded. “We are as uncertain as you are about this whole ordeal. Does this look like suffering to you?” He asked, gesturing at the peacefully sleeping duo.

 

“I know. I’m sorry,” Talia buried her face in her hands then slid it up her hair; a gesture Claudia knew she subconsciously did when she couldn't make a final decision despite considering all possible solution. “But you have to understand my struggle. Foxes and wolves have had a long grueling history. A wolf imprinting on a fox is one of the greatest ironies I’ve heard. And the fact that Stiles and what he is capable of remains a mystery, even for Deaton.”

 

Claudia put her hand on the Alpha’s shoulder. “We understand. This is something you cannot predict, no matter how hard you try. No careful planning can ever ensure that your family and your pack would be safe. This is  just something you wait out, and I know that's what scares you the most. But we don’t even know if the Deucarys would care that a nine-tailed fox was born. As for the Nikitsunaes, they’d only get Stiles over my dead body. We’re not at war and we won’t have to be if we keep Stiles a secret. Don’t you wanna see how your godchild, possible future son-in-law, grow in front of your eyes? Grow with Derek?”

 

“Stiles is being raised by good people,” Peter suddenly added from he was leaning near the doorway. “Good parents, good Pack, good Alpha. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here, but one thing I am sure of, Stiles is surrounded by good guys”

 

“Is that scripted?” Talia asked incredulously. “That’s literally what you said at the pack meeting. Word for word.”

 

Peter grinned. “The parents needed to hear it too. Plus everyone agreed it was a good point.”

 

“Your pack has decided, then?” John asked, finally relieved he’ll be hearing an answer. As much as he hated to admit it, they needed Talia’s pack to survive.

 

“We will do our best,” Talia answered. “To protect Stiles.”

 

“It was not even up for discussion,” Peter said. “A unanimous decision. Everyone’s enamored by Stiles.”

 

“And you’ll deal with all that ‘protecting my son' entails, right?” John reaffirmed. “Just like I’ve seen your pack does to every adversary that comes your way.”

 

Talia nodded, looking John straight in the eye.

 

And the deputy hoped that their best is enough.


End file.
